Category Archives: Spotlight on a Sponsor

We are delighted to introduce María José Sevilla of Food and Wines from Spain, a loyal sponsor of the Oxford Symposium over many years.

Please tell us a bit about yourself, your background in food, and your current role at Food and Wines from Spain?

In the Spain where I grew up in the 1950s food was regional and very tasty. The years of hunger brought by the Civil War had been left behind and food production and distribution had reached some form of normality. My father was a demanding eater and my mother a good cook. She knew how to please him at the table as much as she knew how to please my brother and me. It was easy for her as she had learned to cook from her own mother, a professional cook and so I learned from both. I cook now as they did: rice and pasta, pulses, more fish than meat, plenty of fresh vegetables and a few puddings such as apple, brioche with caramel tart and cream caramel. In November we had pomegranate with sugar and strawberries and wine in the spring. We often cooked with fruit or served it fresh especially in the summer when the whole house used to smell as my house in Spain smells now in June and July with peaches, apricots, cherries, light and dark green figs.Continue reading →

Scenes from Borough Market and local charity groups collecting donated produce from the market.

We are delighted to introduce Borough Market who are co-sponsoring the Saturday lunch at the Symposium with the Oxford Food Bank.

In this post David Matchett, the Market Development Manager, explores the role of offal at Borough Market.

Here at Borough Market, we love a bit of offal. Browse our butchery stalls and you’ll find them packed with livers and lights, hearts and heads. Partly, this is because our shoppers tend to be pretty serious about cooking and eating, and there’s nothing they enjoy more than the earthy joys of good offal. But the presence here of lots of undervalued cuts of meat is more than a matter of taste — it is an essential part of our philosophy.Continue reading →

We are delighted to introduce the Oxford Food Bank who are co-sponsoring the Saturday lunch at the Symposium with Borough Market.

Please tell us a bit about yourself, your background in food, and your current role at the Oxford Food Bank

Hi, my name is Liz Buckle and I work as a volunteer at the Oxford Food Bank, I’ve been doing this for about a year since I ‘retired’ from a job with the Environment Agency – England’s environmental regulator. I don’t have a background in food but I do like to eat fresh, good quality food and feel that this is a basic necessity for everyone. My environmental background and experience means that I’m passionate about the need to reduce waste and that includes food waste. I’m also a really keen gardener and allotment holder so love being able to pick and eat fresh fruit and veg and eat it within hours.
I’m one of around 100 volunteers at the Food Bank and I drive or go out in vans to either collect fresh food from suppliers or to give food to charities.Continue reading →